Thursday – Torshaven, Faroe Islands
Today, we arrived at our first port-of-call; Torshaven, in the Faroe Islands. The sky was an overcast steely-grey and it was raining; not so dissimilar to North Yorkshire then (except, I have it on good authority that North Yorkshire has been sunny and clear today). We arrived at 9am, more or less on time, but due to a minor issue with the gangplank, no-one was able to disembark until gone 9:30am; no matter how hard they tried, the crew couldn’t match the elevation of the deck with the height of the quayside, and after several aborted attempts, they finally moved everything up from Deck 2 to Deck 3.
Tracey and I were on tour escort duty. The excursion, billed as ‘Coastal Villages and Spectacular Scenery’, began with a drive through the small town of Torshaven before heading out into the barren, but quite stunning, landscape that goes to make up the Faroe Islands. Patchy hill-fog clung to the slopes of snow-topped hills rising up from fjords, reminiscent of Norway, but only a fraction of their height. In one, we passed none other than the Marco Polo, berthed alongside a small quayside in the middle of nowhere, before arriving at our first stop; a small church sporting a turf roof (as did many of the surrounding buildings in the small hamlet in which it was situated).
After a twenty-minute mooch around, and having our guide sing some ancient Norse song to us in the church, we continued on our way, along narrow, windy roads, past endless impressive waterfalls and towering crags (a photo-stop or two would have been nice), to a small museum, which is actually just an old house where visitors can wander through and get a feel for what it must be like to live in such a wild and remote location. Three coach-loads of visitors crammed into a small, four-roomed crofters cottage isn’t a particularly pleasant experience. Fortunately, the house was situated right next to one of those magnificent waterfalls. From lofty heights, it found its way, terrace after terrace, down to the natural harbour in the valley below.
Unfortunately, it rained the whole time, making photo-taking and videoing slightly problematic; my video didn’t like getting wet at all, and many of the images I took were marred by huge blobs of rain on the lens. The drive back to Torshaven was as spectacular as the excursion title promised. Frustratingly, my coach didn’t make any further photo stops, while Tracey’s coach made a stop above Torshaven before dropping into town, and back to the ship.
After lunch we took a walk into the town to see what there was to see, and to hunt down some wi-fi. The internet on board ship is actually quite good, but unfortunately, a restriction on certain types of connection (ftp is blocked, in case anyone is wondering) means I’ve been unable to upload any online student updates… very frustrating, and an issue that can only be addressed when I get back home, so I’m rather stuck with it for the duration of the cruise.
Torshaven is Danish, with strong Viking origins. Its architecture is quite unmistakable, with brightly-coloured buildings skirting the harbour. Sadly; the dull day did nothing to enhance its charm, and the persistent rain brought back memories of Copenhagen last October (when we got right royally drenched). There were subtle echoes of Bergen, but I, for one, was rather happy to get back on board ship and have a relaxing hot cup of tea (although, I’m pleased to say that we did find some good, free wi-fi in the library, which enabled me to undertake important updates).
